


Comedies Always End In Weddings

by Bob_The_Other_Zombie



Category: Lovely Little Losers, Nothing Much to Do
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, and apparently dont have enough plot bunnies as is, basically i am trash for ensemble fics and also wedding movies, intended to be slow burn, other characters may make cameos as i get more comfortable writing them, so ayyyy have some wedding ensemble trash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-04-19 12:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4747163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bob_The_Other_Zombie/pseuds/Bob_The_Other_Zombie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wedding romcom au nobody asked for, set in a world where NMTD's plot stopped after Hero and Claudio got together. Featuring Hero and Claudio as the young couple who may be rushing into things, Ursula as the volunteer wedding photographer/unlucky childhood friend, Benedick and Beatrice as the bickering Best Man/Maid of Honor duo with their own secrets, Balthazar as the estranged frontman of the wedding band, Freddie as the wedding planner, and Peter and Meg as their usual lovely, if oblivious, selves. Yeah, there's pretty much no way this wedding's going smoothly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

When Ursula arrived, the flat smelled like cookies. This wouldn’t have been unusual- Hero often baked cookies, and often invited Ursula over to have a taste- except it was just past nine in the morning. Ursula frowned, tried the handle in case it was unlocked (it was), and walked inside.

Hero was pacing back in forth in the living room. She looked up immediately when Ursula came in, eyes wide.

“Hey.” Ursula stepped forward cautiously. “I got your message. What’s going on?”

Hero immediately crossed towards her, reaching out for her. “Oh, Ursula, thank goodness. You don’t know where Bea is, do you?”

“Beatrice?” Ursula’s mind flashed back to the last time she’d seen the girl- dancing and laughing at Hero’s engagement party. “No, I haven’t seen her since last night. Why, what happened?”

Hero groaned. “She’s not answering her phone. I have no idea where she is.”

The door creaked open again, and Hero tensed, turning back towards the door. Ursula laid a calming hand on Hero’s shoulder as Meg walked in.

Meg grinned, raising her arms. “Yes, ladies, it’s me. No need to applaud.” When they didn’t laugh, she frowned. “What happened? And why are you baking cookies at nine in the morning?”

“We don’t know where Beatrice is.” Ursula said, sitting down on the couch. “Have you talked to her since last night?”

Meg shook her head. “No. I thought she was going to leave with you, Hero.”

“I stayed over with Claud, so she said she was going to take a taxi back.” said Hero. “But she wasn’t here this morning, and I tried calling and texting her, but she won’t pick up. I’m just worried something might’ve happened, she had a lot to drink-”

“Maybe she found a hot man to spend the night with.” Meg said as she headed over to the couch to sit beside Ursula. 

Hero furrowed her brow. “No, no, that's not like her. Anyways, our engagement party was just friends, who would she have slept with there?”

“Peter?”

“No, because he’s Claud’s flatmate, remember?” Hero said. “I saw him this morning.”

“I’m sure Beatrice is fine.” Ursula interjected. The worry in Hero’s tone was killing her. “She wasn't that drunk last night, just a little tipsy.”

Meg nodded. “And she knows how to defend herself. Remember when she dragged us all to those self-defense classes?”

Hero sat down as well, balancing herself on the arm of the couch next to Ursula. “I know, I know, I just....she’s usually so good about letting me know when she’s staying over somewhere else.” Ursula reached up and squeezed Hero’s thigh comfortingly.

“Maybe she forgot.” Meg said, tracing the edge of the couch cushions. “Or...maybe she was still a little freaked out by the engagement and needed some time.” 

Ursula felt Hero’s leg tense underneath her hand and frowned. She really wished Meg hadn’t brought that up. Ursula wasn’t completely sold on the engagement either, but Hero was a smart woman, she knew what she was doing.

Meg rolled her eyes. “Come on, it’s possible. She’s never been his biggest fan-”

“I think that’s between Hero and Beatrice.” Ursula said, a bit stiffly. She softened it by smiling at Meg. “Do you want some cookies? They should be cool by now.”

Before Meg could respond, they heard the sound of a key turning in the apartment door’s lock. Hero stood immediately, Ursula half-following her, as Beatrice walked in, looking- well, surprisingly normal. After all the talk, Ursula had expected her to be bloody and bruised or something. But no, although Beatrice’s hair was a mess and she was carrying her shoes rather than walking in them, she looked about the same as she did last night. She was also, notably, still wearing the same dress.

“Where were you?” Hero said, rushing forward. “What happened?”

Beatrice looked around, seeming bemused that they all were here. “Uh- I’m fine. I was just out. Nothing happened.” She reached up, smoothing down her hair self-consciously, and Ursula caught sight of a dark mark on her neck.

“Who’s the man?” Meg asked slyly. 

Beatrice flushed, dropping her arm. “N-no one! I didn’t- I’m not- what are you talking about?”

Meg pointed. “You’ve got a love bite.”

Beatrice put a hand over her neck. “No, it’s a bruise. I fell.” Hero took a step back, folding her arms, and Beatrice sighed. “Fine, it was a man.”

Ursula and Hero both gasped, and Meg let out a shriek of victory. “I was right! You were out with someone! Who was it? Peter?”

“No, of course not.” Beatrice said, making a face as she set her bag down on a table and walked further into the room. “I don’t want to talk about it. You don’t know him, anyways. Like, seriously, it was just a random guy. I went to a bar and I saw him, and I- I felt like some sex. So I did.”

Hero and Ursula exchanged looks. Beatrice had never been very good at lying. But why would she tell them she’d had a one night stand? And where did the hickeys come from?

“Why’d you...why’d you go to the bar?” Hero asked tentatively. “We missed you at the party.”

Beatrice didn’t meet her eyes as she circled around the counter dividing the kitchen and the living room to reach the cookies cooling on one end. “Just needed some air. Ooh, are these new?”

“Yeah.” said Ursula. “Hero baked them this morning.” She didn’t add what Beatrice already knew, that Hero had a habit of baking when she was stressed out. Or worried sick about someone else’s well-being.

“Was he good?” Meg asked.

Something almost like guilt flashed over Beatrice’s face. “I didn’t- he wasn’t- look, I don’t want to talk about it, all right? Let’s just drop it.” She grabbed a cookie, jamming it into her mouth. “These are delicious, Hero, thank you!”

Hero smiled, although there was still a wrinkle in between her eyebrows that made Ursula want to get up and hug her. “You’re welcome.” she said. “Meg, Ursula, do you want any?”

Meg leaped up. “Yeah, definitely. Your cookies are always the best, Hero.”

“Thank you.” Hero said. “And when you’re done I want to talk to you all about the wedding. I want to ask you something.”

Meg grinned. “Oh, you’d better pick cute bridesmaid dresses for us, Hero Duke.”

Hero waved her hands at her. “Shh, shh, shh! Afterwards! I wanted it to be special! I made you all gifts and everything!”

It took Ursula a moment to join them at the now nearly-empty kitchen counter.


	2. Chapter 1

Freddie Kingston was not at all what Hero expected a wedding planner to be. Not in a bad way, of course. Freddie had a wonderful reputation based on the customer review sites Hero had looked through for research, and Hero was sure that the woman was a competent, hardworking individual who lived up to it. Plus, she was willing to work with a tight deadline. But appearance-wise, Hero had to admit Freddie was a bit of a surprise. For one thing, she was young, maybe a year or two older than Hero, if that. For another thing, she didn’t dress like the stereotypical wedding planner. She still took care of herself, but her outfit was more casual than expected- well-fitting dark jeans, a nice floral top, and a shock of red hair pulled back into a neat bun. Her whole personality was a different than Hero expected. Hero had always pictured wedding planners as overly motherly older women, but Freddie was a lot more serious and businesslike, although she did show occasional glimpses of goofiness in between jotting down notes on a legal pad. It was comfortable, really, and Hero could tell that Freddie was dedicated, both from her professional air and her gorgeous portfolio.

“We’ve already got a photographer.” Hero said, flipping through the concept book. “It’s a friend of mine, and she’s very good-”

Freddie raised a finger, stopping her. “Okay, but I still have to give this warning to everyone who hires a friend or family member. You do realize that, since they will be wanting to celebrate, too, they won’t be able to take as many photos as a professional would, and their photos and videos will likely be of lower quality-”

Hero smiled. Freddie clearly didn’t know Ursula. “Oh, no, she is a professional photographer. She actually turned down being a bridesmaid so that she could focus more on this. I think she’ll do a lovely job.”

“We do have the budget, we could hire someone else.” Claudio reminded her, squeezing her hand. “Ms. Kingston probably knows a lot of good ones.”

“Freddie.” Freddie corrected him. “I’m your age.”

“I think she wants to do it.” Hero said, confused. Claudio had been fine with Ursula as the photographer earlier. “I tried to talk her into being a bridesmaid, but you know how she is.”

“Have you all already picked your wedding party, then?” Freddie asked. “You will probably want to give them plenty of notice so everyone can get their outfits as soon as possible.”

Hero and Claudio both nodded. “I’ve got two bridesmaids, and he’s got two groomsmen.” she said. “And we’ve booked a session at a wedding shop next week.”

Freddie hummed approvingly. “Good. Now, let’s talk more about you two. So there are a few questions that I ask every couple...” She flipped a page in her legal pad and clicked her pen a few times. “They’re a little personal, okay, but it’s good to get to know you guys before we start this process, you know?”

****Claudio laughed, rubbing his thumb over Hero’s hand. “All right.”

****“So, how did you two meet?” She looked up at them expectantly, hand hovering over the page.

****Hero smiled at Claudio. “High school, actually. We didn’t think much of each other at first, but then a little while later we got around to talking sometimes.”

****“Well, she didn’t notice me, much. I thought she was really pretty.”

****Hero elbowed him. “Claudio!”

****“High school, all right.” Freddie said, nodding as she wrote it down. “And how did you two get together?”

****Hero giggled. “Um...”

****“Well.” Claudio rubbed the back of his neck. “I actually had a friend talk to her, to like, see how she felt, I guess.”

****Hero nodded. “It was a bit of a mess, because somehow he ended up thinking the friend had ‘stolen’ me.”

****“But we worked it out.” said Claudio, putting his arm around Hero. “And we’ve been together, more or less, ever since.”

****Freddie chewed on her lip, writing that detail down. “More or less?”

****Hero nodded, looking down at her lap. “Er- yeah. We broke up for a while, but we were still friends. We just got back together about a year ago and decided to make things permanent this time.” She hoped Freddie wasn’t judging them, she couldn’t tell from the woman’s tone.

****Freddie’s expression was unreadable. “How about your proposal?”

****“It’s- not really a story.” Claudio said.

****“Yeah.” Hero squeezed his hand. “We just- got to talking about it one night.”

****Claudio nodded. “It seemed like the right thing to do. We love each other, we get on quite well, and there’s no one either of us would rather spend the rest of our lives with.”

“And we realize we’re quite young.” Hero continued, because Freddie’s expression was worrying her. It wouldn’t be the first time someone disapproved of the engagement. “But we figured since we already knew, there was no real reason to wait, and we wanted to make sure both our families would be able to be there.” Claudio tensed slightly, and Hero rubbed soothing circles on his back.

****“Don’t worry, I don’t judge my couples for getting married. Wouldn’t have much of a business if I did.” Freddie smiled as she finished her notes. “Maybe if they’re fighting with each other, but that’s about it.”

****“Thank you.” Hero said. Claudio smiled as well, although it wasn’t as enthusiastic. Hero knew his family was a bit of a touchy subject right now.

****Freddie nodded. “All right. Now, we should talk about more specific things for your wedding. Do you guys have a theme yet? Anything in particular jumping out at you?”

****Hero rubbed her chin, examining the concept book. “Well, I was thinking, maybe- some fairy lights?”

* * *

 

****Ursula was surprised to find that she wasn’t the first person at the restaurant. Even more surprising, however, was the person who had beaten her there- Peter was in their reserved booth, examining the menu. Ursula thanked at the hostess leading her to her table and then sat down across from him. “Hey, Peter. What are you doing here?”

****Peter looked up, pushing back his hair. He seemed as confused to see Ursula as Ursula was to see him. “Ben and I are having lunch to work out wedding details. What are you doing here?”

****“Bea’s also having a lunch to work out wedding details.” Ursula folded her arms. “Wait, did Benedick reserve the table under his own name?”

****Peter nodded. “Yeah, why?

****“Hey, guys.” Meg slid in next to Ursula. “Why are you here, Peter? I thought this was bride’s party and Ursula only.”

****“Meg, did Beatrice tell us the reservation was under Benedick or Benedict?” Ursula asked.

****Meg frowned. “Well, I assumed it was Benedict like Benedict Cumberbatch-”

****“Wait, wait, wait.” Peter leaned back as the realization dawned on him. “You don’t think they actually worked together on-”

****“Hey, Peter, hey, Ursula, hey, Nutmeg.” Ben said, sitting down next to Peter. “How are you all doing today?”

****Ursula turned to him. “What’s going on, Ben? I thought this was a bride’s party lunch.”

****“Oh, is that what Beatrice said?” Ben said, sounding surprised. “No, no, no. See, we wanted to plan a sort-of wedding party lunch, for all of us, so we could talk about helping out-”

****“You and Beatrice planned this.” Peter said. “You two communicated with each other, and worked out all the details, together.”

****Ben looked affronted. “Yeah, we talk. Just this once, anyways. I’m best man and she’s maid of honor, we’re going to have to work on some things together.”

****Peter raised his eyebrows at Meg and Ursula, and Meg giggled. “I still think that was a mistake on Hero’s part.” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “She should’ve made me maid of honor, Ben and I get on much better.”

****“What was that?” Beatrice asked, sitting down next to Meg.

****“Hello, Beatrice.” said Ben, looking down at the table.

****Beatrice ignored him. “Are you challenging my status as maid of honor again? Because I’ve told you, Meg, I’ve been training for this for years, I will duel you for it-”

****Meg raised her arms. “Joking, joking! Of course we all knew you were going to Hero’s maid of honor, there’s no way she would ever pick anyone else.”

****“Good.” said Beatrice, picking up her menu. “Have you ordered yet?”

****“No, the waiter hasn’t been by.” said Ursula. “I’ve heard they serve some really good desserts here.”

****Ben was frowning at his menu. “Their selection of teas is a little low.”

****“Of course it is.” Beatrice said, tensing immediately. “We’re not in England, they don’t serve all of the teas here.”

****“No, but most of your ancestors are originally from England.” Ben said. “Therefore you should have followed our customs-”

****“It’s been literally generations!” Beatrice said. “We’re halfway around the world from England, of course we’ve developed our own culture, you can’t expect everything to stay the same-”

****“But the good things should have.” Ben said, raising a finger. “The good things, like tea.”

****“Tea is not as good as you think it is.” Beatrice muttered, turning back to her menu. Predictably, Ben gasped as though he were in a soap opera, and Beatrice rolled her eyes. “It’s good, but not that good.”

****Meg gave Peter and Ursula significant looks, and Ursula smiled back at her, silently commiserating with the experience of being around both Bea and Ben at the same time. Thankfully, the waiter arrived before the argument could continue any further. Once they’d all ordered, Peter put his arms on the table.

****“All right, why did you invite us all here, then?” he asked. “Because I refuse to believe you two would plan something together for no reason.”

****“Hey, we were quite cordial to each other while working out details.” Ben said, looking at Beatrice. “We can get along just fine sometimes.”

****Beatrice frowned, turning away from him. “We wanted to talk about the wedding with the whole group.” she said. “Obviously, Hero and Claudio are going to be doing a lot of the planning, and they’ve hired that wedding planner to help them out, but we still need to do some of the work, because there’s a lot of it.”

****“Isn’t that usually the maid of honor and best man’s job though?” Meg asked, leaning her chin on one hand. “I mean, not that I don’t want to help out, I just thought you two were supposed to be doing most of it.”

****Ben looked at Bea. Bea did not look back. “Well, we just figured, since the wedding party’s so small, and since we’ve so little time to do everything, it would be good if we all helped out.”

****“We figured?” Ben muttered.

****“I figured.” Beatrice said. “It’ll be easier split amongst the five of us. Now, Hero and Claudio are taking care of most of the big things, and Freddie is working out most of the details with the venue once they find one, but we’ve still got a few things that they want us to take care of. Obviously, we’ll be planning the wedding showers, the bachelor and bachelorette party, and the rehearsal dinner-”

****“I am all over the bachelorette party.” Meg said. “Seriously, just leave that to me.”

****Beatrice gave her a look. “All right, but remember, this is for Hero.”

****“I know.” Meg shrugged. “Don’t worry, I can tone it down.”

****“I wouldn’t mind taking the bachelor party if you don’t want it.” Peter said. “I used to work as a bartender around here, I know all the best spots.”

****Ben nodded. “Not a bad idea, not a bad idea at all. Now, the other stuff they wanted us to take care of is the music, and the officiant-”

****Peter slapped the table enthusiastically, cutting Ben off. “I’ve got the music.”

****“You seem like you have someone in mind.” said Beatrice.

****“Well, if Hero and Claudio are all right with it, of course.” Peter said. “Balthazar Jones is in town, he might be keen on it.”

****Ursula opened her mouth, not sure exactly what to say. Balthazar Jones, although indeed a talented musician, had been keen on Peter until he’d drifted away from the rest of the group after high school. However, as far as she knew, Peter had never found out about it. It’d been years, though, Balthazar had to be over him by now. It probably wouldn’t cause any issues.

****Ben was nodding. “You know, that’s a pretty good idea. He’s talented, he’s got a band according to Facebook, Hero and Claudio already know him and like his music, and I’m sure we could easily get a sample track or two from him. Peter, you wanna take care of that?”

****“Yeah, definitely.” Peter said, already pulling out his phone. “I hope he's still got the same cell number. God, it’s been so long.”

****Ursula met Beatrice’s eyes. Beatrice seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she was. “I can deal with the officiant.” said Ursula, playing with her straw. “I know a few people.”

****Beatrice nodded. “All right. And that leaves me and Benedick with the respective wedding showers, and then we have to split up the rehearsal dinner.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Oh! And they wanted us to look around and find a good dance teacher for first dance lessons.”

****“Well, I think best man and maid of honor are supposed to plan the rehearsal dinner together.” said Peter, placing his phone down on the table.

****Ben sighed. “Fine. For Hero and Claudio.”

****“I’m literally sitting right here.”

****“Oh, and you’re thrilled about the prospect of planning something with me?” Ben asked, crossing his arms.

****“Of course not.” Beatrice mimicked his crossed arms, leaning back in her seat. “But I’m at least being polite about it. You know, Hero and Claudio are going to be stressed out already, they don’t need us fighting the whole time.”

****“Fine.” Ben said, cocking his head. “Let’s stop fighting. Both of us.”

****Beatrice leaned forward. “Don’t you dare try to blame this on me, you’re the one being rude-”

****“Guys, guys, guys.” Meg said, waving a hand in between them. “One more item, and then you can argue, all right?” Beatrice and Ben blinked, looking away from each other. “The dance lessons? Don’t tell me you forgot about them in the thirty seconds it took to have that argument.”

****Ben raised an eyebrow challengingly at Beatrice, and Beatrice growled.

****“How about this.” Ursula said calmingly. “We can all keep an eye out for a good place, that way we make sure we choose the best one.”

****Peter snorted. “Yeah, I know Claudio’s not too confident about his dancing skills.”

****That, at least, seemed to break Benedick out of his anger. He grinned. “Oh, yeah, remember the last time he tried to slow dance with Hero?”

****Ursula, Meg, and Peter laughed, but Beatrice’s arms were still crossed. “It’s not funny.” she snapped. “He was self-conscious.”

****“Come on.” Meg laid a hand on Beatrice’s shoulder. “Even Hero and Claudio laugh about that now.”

****“I just don’t think we should be bringing up embarrassing mistakes like that.” Beatrice’s glare was directed entirely at Ben. “It’s kind of mean, isn’t it?”

****Ben raised his hands. “All right, all right. If you really want us to stop talking about it, then we will.” For a moment, Ursula thought that maybe the two of them had actually reconciled, and then Ben clasped his hands in front of him. “And that is how you actually stop arguing with someone.”

****Beatrice laughed. “I’m not going to stop arguing with you when you’re clearly wrong!”

****“Beatrice-” Ursula began. ****

“It’s called taking the high road, and it requires a certain amount of emotional maturity.” said Ben. “Which clearly you do not have.”

****“So you admit you’re wrong.”

****“No, no, no, I never said anything like that-”

****“And anyways, you are literally the least emotionally mature person I have ever met.” said Beatrice. “You- you cry over cartoons meant for kids.” Meg failed to stifle a giggle.

“And you’re still obsessed with my namesake, a celebrity, who you will never even meet.” Ben said. “You’ve never even been in a real relationship.”

****“Okay.” Peter said, trying to break them up.

****“Three dates with three different girls does not count as having been in a relationship.” Beatrice snapped. “Neither do one night stands. And you know what, I’m emotionally mature enough to be fine without one, I’m not desperate-”

****“Okay, guys-”

****“Desperate?” Ben said, grinning mockingly. “Are you calling me desperate?”

****Beatrice didn’t rise to the bait. “Maybe.”

****“Because if I’m desperate, then what does that-”

****“Look, the food’s here!” Meg said. “Everyone pay attention to that!”

****Thankfully, that was enough to divert Beatrice and Ben’s attention from the....oddly personal argument they’d been having. Really, Ursula had been friends with the both of them for years, and she was still a bit surprised. They usually stuck to much lighter topics. However, as lunch went on and they returned to their usual surface level snipes, she relaxed slightly.

****Peter’s phone didn’t vibrate once the entire time.


	3. Chapter 2

Hero had finally managed to explain the process of assembling wedding invitations to everyone when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She sighed. “That must be Freddie. Peter, do you think you understand what to do?”

“Uh….” Peter examined the piece of paper in his hand like it was a futuristic computer. “Maybe Ben can explain it to me.”

Ben shook his head. “Don’t look at me. I know how to do it, not how to teach it.”

“I can go answer the door.” said Ursula.

Meg set down her supplies, standing up. “No, I’ve got it. You’re in the middle of an invitation right now.” She picked her way over at least nine pairs of scissors and ten rolls of wrapping paper and disappeared into the entry hallway as Hero returned to answering Peter’s questions.

The door creaked open, and Meg’s voice floated back into the room. “Hello. Are you Freddie?”

There was a pause before Freddie responded. “Uh. Yes. I am Freddie. I. Shit!”

Hero looked up as she heard something clatter to the ground out in the hallway.

“Shit, shit, I am so sorry.” said Freddie. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Hold on, I’ll go get paper towels.” Meg returned, hurrying into the kitchen.

“What happened?” Hero asked.

“She brought coffee, apparently.” Meg was smirking as she ripped several towels off the roll. “She accidentally dropped it in the hallway trying to shake my hand.”

“Here, let me help.” Hero stood, setting down Peter’s invitation and dodging around the piles of supplies. She took a few paper towels from Meg and hurried into the entryway.

Freddie was already crouched there, making a futile attempt to rub at the coffee stains with a napkin. “Here.” Meg said, handing her the paper towels.

The wedding planner looked up, eyes wide and cheeks a bit red. “Thanks. Sorry, Hero, I wanted to bring you guys some coffee, but….” She gestured to her jeans, which were covered in coffee.

Hero shook her head, kneeling down. “Oh, it’s fine. You didn’t even have to come, honestly, thank you so much for helping out with this.”

Freddie nodded. “I- I wanted to meet your wedding party and get a better idea of your color scheme.”

“So you’re wedding planner Freddie?” Meg asked as she crouched down next to them.

Freddie didn’t meet her eyes, furiously scrubbing at the stain on her pants. “Yes, that is me. I am. Um. That.”

Hero began to wonder if there wasn’t a reason behind Freddie’s red cheeks and her sudden clumsiness.

Meg laughed, eyes still trained on the redhead. “I thought you were going to be a man!”

Freddie shook her head, turning an even deeper shade of red. “No, I’m a woman.” She chanced a glance up at Meg for a second. “It’s a nickname.”

“I’ve got a nickname or two, too.” Meg said, and Hero suppressed a snort at the blatant suggestion in Meg’s tone. Meg extended a hand across the coffee stain. “Meg Winters is what people usually call me, though. I’m one of the bridesmaids.”

Gingerly, Freddie took her hand. “Nice to meet you.” She pulled away quickly, but there was a small smile on her face as she returned to mopping up the coffee. “I’m sorry about the coffee, Hero.”

“Oh, it happens.” said Hero. “And I think we got to it quickly enough, it’s almost up, now. I don’t know about your pants, though.”

“Here, let me try.” Meg said, and Hero’s eyes went wide as Meg grabbed one of Freddie’s legs, wiping at the coffee on the dark material. For a moment, there was silence. Freddie’s gaze was fixated on Meg’s hand on her leg, and Hero was shocked at Meg’s daring. When Meg finally let go, Freddie actually sighed.

Hero had to stand up before either of them could see her laughing. “Why don’t you come inside? If you like, Freddie, you can borrow one of my pairs of pants and we can wash yours.”

“That’s fine, you don’t have to.” said Freddie. “Thank you, though.”

“Here, let me help you up.” Meg said.

Hero left them to it as she returned to the others, not quite able to wipe the smirk off of her face.

* * *

 

When Hero came back inside, she brought both Meg and a redhaired woman with coffee stains all over her jains. Ursula examined them from her spot amidst the sea of craft supplies. The woman didn’t seem much like a wedding planner- her face was about the shade of her hair, and she looked incredibly flustered for someone who organized complicated events for a living.

Hero tossed her paper towels in the trash and then dragged the twitchy woman forward like a kid at show-and-tell. “Everyone, this is Freddie Kingston, the wedding planner.”

Freddie smiled, waving awkwardly to the rest of the group. “Hi, everyone. I’m Freddie.”

“Freddie, this is Beatrice, my maid of honor-” Beatrice gave a peace sign and a bright smile- “Ursula, my friend and photographer-” Ursula nodded and smiled- “Claudio you’ve already met, Ben’s the best man-” Ben grinned- “and this is Peter, the other groomsman. And of course you just met Meg out in the hallway.”

Meg returned to her former seat next to Ursula, picking up her supplies again. Freddie stood watching them all a bit self-consciously, before finally sitting where she was.

Hero, meanwhile, crossed over to her previous position between Ursula and Claudio, and settled herself down. Ursula chanced a glance up at her- she had something almost like a smirk on her face. Something had obviously happened out in the hallway, going by that and Freddie’s blush. Ursula would have to ask Hero about it once everyone had left.

Freddie cleared her throat, regarding the towering pile of craft supplies and everyone busily taking from it. “So, um, we’re making invitations?”

“Oh, of course.” Hero said, raising her hand to her forehead. “Meg, why don’t you go over and explain what we’re doing to Freddie?”  

“All right.” Meg said, placing her materials down and picking her way across the supplies to Freddie. She settled down next to her and reached over Freddie to to get at the paper and scissors in the center. Freddie watched her movements, looking a bit wide-eyed.

Hero was engrossed in her work and didn’t meet Ursula’s curious gaze.

“Who are you texting?” Ben asked. Ursula looked up- Peter was in the middle of putting his phone away, almost guiltily.

“Why does it matter?” Beatrice asked in that special tone of voice she saved only for Ben. “He’s allowed to text if he wants to.”

“I was just curious!” Ben sputtered. “He’s been checking his phone every few seconds.”

“Beatrice.” Peter said calmingly. “It’s just Balthazar. I was giving him some more details about the wedding.”

“How is he doing?” asked Hero.  "Freddie, Balthazar is our friend from high school, who’s got a band. We were thinking about asking him to play our wedding.“

"He seems all right.” said Peter, shrugging one shoulder. “Apparently he’s even got a bit of a following. I dunno. He hasn’t said much about his personal life.”

Ursula smiled. That definitely seemed like the Balthazar she remembered from high school.

“Is Balthazar his real name?” asked Freddie. “Sorry, but, who actually names their kid that?”

“Your name is Freddie.” Ben pointed out.

“Yeah, but that’s a nickname!”

“Balthazar is a nickname, too.” Peter said. “It’s his middle name.”

Meg snorted. “I don’t think anyone here should be talking about weird names, Peter and I are the only normal ones out of all of you, and Peter went by Pedro for years. The rest of you are practically all Marlowe characters.” There was a ripple of laughter.

“Beatrice isn’t that weird.” Beatrice said.

“Yeah, for an old maid.”

“Oh, like Margaret isn’t an old maid’s name?”

“And I feel like I should point out,” Ben said, “that my name isn’t Benedick, it’s Ben.”

Beatrice made a noise of disgust. “That isn’t at all what we were talking about!”

Ursula grimaced as their voices started rising again.

“Oh, but it is. You see, we were discussing names-”

Beatrice put her stack of invitations down in her lap, leaning over to glare at him. “Yes, and that is your name. Ben is your nickname. Notice how I was talking about Margaret, not Meg.”

Freddie glanced back and forth between them, looking horrified by what her question had wrought.

“No, but the original question was about nicknames.” Ben said. “Miss Kingston over there asked about Balthazar’s name-”

“His name, exactly-”

“-and Balthazar is a nickname-”

“-so you admit this discussion is about names-”

“-for Stanley, and would you stop talking over me!”

“-because Freddie originally asked about names!”

They broke off, chests heaving. Their words had been almost unintelligible due to the fact that they were practically shouting over each other, but the venom in their tones was clear.

“Oookay.” Meg said. “Freddie, in case you’re wondering, yes, they’re always like that.”

Ben made a noise of disgust and Beatrice gave him a mocking smile.

“Does anyone need any help?” Hero asked. “Claudio, how are you doing?”

Claudio shrugged, holding up one of the invitations. “I think I’m doing this right.”

Hero pursed her lips, and Claudio began laughing. “Sorry, I’m still getting the hang of it.”

“Here, let me help.” Hero said, reaching over Claudio for the materials. She slid in closer to him.

“Oh, none of that.” said Beatrice, making a face. “Gross.”

“They’ve been dating for years now, Bea.” said Ursula lightly.

Beatrice grimaced again, shuddering. “Ugh. Never gets better. All of this coupleness.”

“You know, I actually have to agree with you there.” said Ben. Beatrice immediately huffed. “What? I was agreeing with you on something.”

“Okay, enough, enough.” Peter said, pulling his phone out of his pocket again. “We get it, you guys hate each other.” He read the display, and a bit of a smile appeared on his face.

“Why do you guys-” Freddie began. “Sorry, I’m a wedding planner, it’s good for me to know the details on any conflicts. Just so it won’t disrupt the wedding. If you’re comfortable talking about it, that is.”

Beatrice and Ben glanced at each other for a moment, but Beatrice quickly looked away. “He’s a dick.” she muttered, busying herself with her work on the invitations.

“And she is heartless.” said Ben. Beatrice’s fingers tightened on the invitation she was holding, nearly ripping it in two.

Ursula looked up, catching Hero’s eye, and frowned at her. Hero returned the look. Yes, this was definitely something they needed to talk about later- clearly something was going on


	4. Chapter 3

“He said he'd meet us right out here." Peter smoothed down his fringe, glancing around the crowded street. "Apparently he's crashing at a friend's place inside."

Hero bit her lip. "Do you think he'll want to play for our wedding, then? It isn't for a few months, and if he doesn’t have a permanent place to stay...."

Peter shook his head. "He's interested."

"Maybe he can stay with Claud and I if his other friends can’t take him the whole time." said Peter.

Claudio nodded. “We’ve got a couch, it wouldn’t be too comfortable, but-”

"Are you all so sure you want him to play?" Freddie asked.

Hero nodded, but it was Peter who answered. "You haven't heard Balthazar Jones."

As if summoned by his name, Balthazar appeared, waving from the door of the apartment building. He looked like he hadn't aged a day since they'd last seen him- his hair was a bit wilder, and his clothing a bit more punk rock, but when he smiled, it was the same half-smile Hero remembered from high school.

She ran over, hugging him. "Balthazar!"

"Hey." he said, wrapping his arms around her. "It's good to see you again." He pulled away, holding up his hand as if to display a ring. "And congrats on the, uh, thing."

Claudio also hugged him, slapping him on the back. "Good to see you, man." he said. "It's been too long."

Balthazar nodded. "Yeah, yeah." And then Peter and Freddie reached them.

There was a pause while the two men stared at each other. Then Peter stepped forward, wrapping Balthazar in a bear hug. It took Balthazar a second to hug him back.

Peter pulled away, keeping his hands on Balthazar’s shoulders. “Hey, it’s so good to see you! It’s been years!”

Balthazar smiled, stepping back a bit so that Peter’s hands fell. “Yeah. It’s great to see you, too.” His eyes flicked towards the ground.

“So you’ve got a proper band now, huh? Knew you’d make it!” Peter said.

Balthazar nodded. "Yeah, yeah, they're wonderful." He turned to Hero, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know if we can do any more of our louder songs today, the neighbors wouldn’t like it, but we can show you a few things for the slow dances and the ceremony itself."

"That sounds perfect." Hero said. "By the way, this is Freddie Kingston, the wedding planner."

Freddie extended a hand. "Hi."

"Hi." said Balthazar, shaking it.

"I have to ask, what is your first name? They told me Balthazar was a middle name."

Peter and Claudio laughed, and Balthazar smiled. "Yeah, my first name's Stanley." he said. "But you can call me Balthazar, or Stanley, I really don't care."

"Balthazar's better, though." said Peter.

Balthazar didn't meet his eyes. "Yeah, whichever."

"Ursula, Bea, Ben, and Meg all say hi, by the way." said Hero, laying a hand on his arm. "They can't wait to see you again. You should come to our next crafting session."

"Crafting session?" asked Balthazar.

Claudio nodded, laughing slightly. "Yeah, Hero wanted to do some DIY decorations and things for the wedding." Hero elbowed him. "Hey, I wasn't complaining! We had fun at the last one, Freddie even came."

"Yeah, sounds cool.” Balthazar turned to Freddie. “So you've met everyone else, then?"

Freddie’s cheeks reddened a bit. "Yeah, they all seem pretty, um, nice."

"Cool, cool." said Balthazar, nodding. "Do you wanna come up and meet the band?"

"That sounds great." Hero took Claudio’s hand. "Lead the way, Balthazar."

* * *

The wedding dress shop was clearly everything Hero hoped it would be, judging by the joy on her face when she walked in. The sight of Hero's face made Ursula grin, too, as did the horror on Beatrice's. Meg was the least fazed out of all of them, although she was so used to shopping and fashion that this could hardly come as a surprise.

They spent a good part of an hour watching Hero try on dresses. Ursula privately thought Hero was made for wedding dresses- no matter what she put on, she looked radiant in all of them, thanks to her smile, the way the white fabric looked on her skin, the fancy styles of the dresses, and just the elegant way she carried herself. Ursula itched to take pictures of all of them, to savor this memory. Of course, she was the only one who felt that way- Meg and Hero were both hypercritical of everything, while an indifferent Beatrice kept them entertained by cracking jokes and occasionally trying on some of the more ridiculous veils.

And then, eventually, Hero wanted them to search for bridesmaids’ dresses. “Okay.” she said, standing in front of them in a clipped-in sleeveless dress with a mermaid hem. It suited her frame very well, but both she and Meg worried that it was a little bit boring. Meg wanted something with more skin, and Hero wanted something with more lace. “I want you each to find one you like, yes, Beatrice, one that you actually like, and then come and show me, and then we’ll decide.”

“Any particular color?” asked Ursula. She may not have been a bridesmaid, but she still wanted to find Hero a good dress.

Hero chewed on her lip, pulling the wedding gown higher up on her frame. “Well, I’m not exactly sure yet. Probably pastel, maybe pink, or yellow, or blue, or something?”

“Blue or yellow, got it.“ said Beatrice. Hero made a face at her, and she threw up her arms defensively. “I’ve told you before! It’s scientifically proven!”

“Just- go.” Hero said, waving her hands at them. “Go find a dress.”

Meg and Beatrice immediately set off, tugging out dresses at random and examining them. Ursula crossed her arms, chewing on one lip as she looked at the different racks. Something pastel blue or yellow, something classy like Hero, something in Hero's style that the others would also like...

Beatrice pulled out a flashy red dress, laughing. "Hey, we should all wear this!" she said, stroking the ostentatious fringe. "Wouldn't we just look smashing in it."

"Try it on. I dare you." Meg held a short black dress up to her body, examining it.

"Oh, I will." Beatrice said, taking it off the rack and disappearing into the changing room.

Ursula glimpsed a spot of blue where Beatrice had just been and moved forward, pushing aside dresses to reach it. It was a floaty baby blue dress, not too risqué, not too boring, with an elegant skirt that reached just below the knees and a bit of lace around the collar. Ursula was rather reminded of what she'd originally pictured Hermione Granger's dress to be at the Yule Ball.

"This one's pretty." she said, turning to Meg.

Meg stopped shuffling through the dresses to appraise it, one eyebrow raised. "Hmm. You know, you're right. That style's pretty popular this season, too. Go try it on." She turned back to the rack, pulling out a deep purple ballgown. "And I will try this one on, because even if it isn't Hero's color scheme, when am I going to get a chance to try on a dress like this again?"

Ursula laughed and followed her into the changing rooms, where Beatrice already was struggling. "I can't figure out this dress." she said, stretching it out. "There's so much fringe I can't tell what is what."

"Here." Meg put her dress down and helped Beatrice out while Ursula slid on her own dress. It fit pretty well, and didn't look half bad in the mirror. She smoothed down the wrinkles and left Meg and Bea to it.

When Ursula emerged, Hero was standing with her back to her, cellphone up to her ear.

"How do I look?" Ursula spread her arms.

Hero turned around, eyes widening almost immediately. "Oh, Ursula.” she said softly.

Ursula's cheeks warmed at Hero's tone. "You like it? Do you think it fits with your color scheme?"

Hero placed her hand over her mouth and nodded. "You look- sorry, Freddie.” she said into the phone. “I think I’ve found the one.” She turned away, leaving Ursula standing there awkwardly. “Yeah, sure, if it’s no trouble. Oh, good. See you in a few minutes, then.” Hero hung up, placing the phone back on a nearby chair, and smiled at Ursula again. “Freddie’s in the neighborhood, so she wants to come see what we’re looking at for her color scheme. But you look-”

"Not nearly as good as I do!" Beatrice strutted out in all the glory of the red dress, striking an exaggerated pose at the end of her walk. The dress was just as awful as they'd first thought- it was asymmetrical in just about every way a dress could be, with far too much fringe at the top, far too little towards the bottom, and long, sequined sleeves to cap off the vaguely unbalanced ensemble.

Hero broke out laughing. "Oh, yes, I love that. Do a twirl. You've got to do a twirl."

Beatrice complied, making the fringe of her dress clink slightly. "It's beautiful.I'm wearing this as my wedding dress when I get married."

"When you get married?" Meg asked teasingly, pulling the purple gown up her chest as she emerged from the fitting room. "So you’re not anti-marriage anymore?”

Beatrice colored. "You know what I mean."

"What, was Mr. Mystery One-Night-Stand a real keeper?"

"It was a joke, Meg, I have no interest in getting married." Beatrice folded her arms. "Especially not to him."

"Was he a jerk or something?" Ursula asked, because someone had to. She looked over at Hero to see her own curiosity mirrored in Hero’s eyes.

Beatrice snorted. "I'm gonna go take this thing off. Take one last look at all of this glory." She twirled again before waltzing back into the dressing room.

Meg raised her eyebrows at them but didn’t comment. "So, what do you think of my dress? I think it’s beautiful.”

Hero tapped a finger against her chin. "I...it is a really pretty dress, Meg, but I think I like Ursula's better. Just because of the color. But you should totally wear that to someone else's wedding!"

"All right, well, I'm still gonna stay in it." Meg sat down, crossing her legs beneath the puffy skirt. "This is the most expensive thing I'll ever wear."

"You think this is good?" Ursula asked, adjusting the sleeves on her dress.

Hero nodded. "You should wear it even if you’re not going to be a bridesmaid. You look great in it."

Ursula laughed. "Depends on how much it costs."

"Spin for us." Meg said, resting her head on one hand.

Ursula complied, lifting her arms around her head. She could understand the appeal of all this for a moment, of why Hero was trying on so many gowns- it felt amazing to be dressed like this, twirling like a princess. "I thought it looked like Hermione's from the Yule Ball."

Hero giggled. "I like that." She looked down at her phone. "Oh, Freddie's here! I've got to go get her!" She hurried out towards the entrance, still in her wedding dress.

Beatrice reappeared, now wearing her normal clothing. "What's happening?"

"Freddie's here." said Ursula.

Meg stood, smoothing down her dress. "Wonder why." She pushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

Hero reappeared, leading Freddie by the arm. "Found her! All right, Ursula's dress is the one I was really considering. Meg just put that one on for fun."

Freddie's eyes flicked to Meg, and her mouth opened slightly. It took her a moment to drag her gaze over to Ursula. "Do you mind if I take pictures of it?" she asked.

Ursula shook her head. "No, not at all."


	5. Chapter 4

The next free day she could find, Hero scheduled another crafting session. Claudio couldn’t come this time- his boss had never been generous with vacation time, so he was having to work a lot of extra hours now in order to ‘earn’ the honeymoon later on. Meg also cancelled, citing a deadline, and Freddie was busy with other arrangements, so that left Hero with a much smaller crafting group than expected. **  
**

Ursula was the first to arrive, and she, Beatrice, and Hero spent an enjoyable half hour working on decorations and arguing over which TV show to watch. Hero was just considering turning it into a bride’s party sleepover when Ben swaggered in. “Hello, ladies. Are we the only ones here?”

Beatrice sighed. “No, we hid everyone else under the couch so they wouldn’t have to see you.” Ben made a rude face at her, and she returned the favor.

Hero separated out a stack of centerpiece materials for him. “Claudio had work, Meg had to cancel because of a deadline, and Freddie’s not coming. So we’re still waiting on Peter and maybe Balthazar.”

“Really?” Ben asked. “Balthazar’s coming?”

“Of course not, why ever would you think that?”

Ben crossed his arms. “Would you stop? I’m just asking questions.”

“Stupid ones.” Beatrice said. “It’s pretty obvious who else is here, and Hero literally just said-”

Hero looked helplessly over at Ursula, and Ursula grabbed the stack of materials and shoved it into Ben’s hands. “Here, Ben, let me show you how to make this.”

Honestly, Hero could have kissed her for engineering a way to distract Ben. Their arguing hadn’t been this bad for years, but lately, when Beatrice wasn’t fighting with Ben, she was ranting about him to Hero. And Hero loved them both, she really did, but their constant conflicts were starting to add to the stress of wedding planning.

So when they began bickering again, Hero welcomed the chance to disappear into the kitchen with the excuse of making some hot chocolate. Once inside the pantry, she closed her eyes and let out a breath, listening to their voices from the living room.

After a moment, the door creaked open and Ursula crept in, filling the small space with the scent of her shampoo. She pressed herself close to Hero in order to get the door closed. “I’m helping you look for the hot chocolate packets. If anyone asks.”

Hero laughed quietly. “I love them, I do. I just don’t like seeing them hate each other this much, you know?”

Ursula nodded. “It’s been bad lately. You should’ve seen them at the wedding party brunch.”

“But what can we do about it?” whispered Hero. They both fell silent, frustrated.

“-don’t want to talk.” Beatrice said from the living room, tone tense.

“Clearly, that’s not working.” said Benedick in a low voice. “The others can tell, haven’t you noticed?”

Beatrice laughed. “No, they can’t, you’re being ridiculous! I told you, forget about it.”

Benedick’s reply was too quiet for Hero and Ursula to hear.

“Well, that’s too bad, then.” said Beatrice. “Here I thought you were Mister Emotional Maturity.”

“We shouldn’t be eavesdropping.” whispered Hero, holding Ursula’s gaze.

Ursula nodded, fumbling behind her to open the door. She walked out. “Ben, Beatrice, do you want anything else? Any tea?”

Inside the pantry, Hero was suddenly aware of how cold it was. She rubbed at the goosebumps on her arms as she finally spotted the hot chocolate packets, all the way up on one of the highest shelves. Hero sighed and left to go enlist help from one of her taller friends.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Ursula brought her camera to the food tasting for reasons she herself didn’t fully understand. She knew she was being silly, but she couldn’t help but feel like the wedding signaled the end of something, and the thought made her oddly melancholy. She wanted to document as much of their time as carefree unattached adults together as she could, before it was all gone.

“How is the salad?” she asked, training the camera on Peter and Balthazar. To save time, the whole wedding party had come and split up into pairs- Hero and Claudio on the desserts, Ben and Freddie on the finger foods, Beatrice and Meg on the main courses, and Peter and Balthazar on the salads.

Balthazar nodded at the camera, lifting a forkful of lettuce. “It’s very good.” he said. “The dressing is very...uh....rich.”

Peter poked at his salad, making a face. “Wish we’d asked for the main courses. Look at them, they’re eating steaks.” He gestured to Meg and Beatrice, who were both tearing into slices of meat.

Balthazar shrugged, spiking another piece of lettuce on his fork. “I dunno, I like salad.”

“Oh, right, yeah.” Peter put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you seriously still a vegetarian?”

Balthazar took a moment to swallow before answering. “Yeah, of course. I tried to be a vegan for a while, but it didn’t work out.”

Peter laughed, turning back to his salad. “Good to know you’re still the same Balthazar underneath that new hair of yours.”

Balthazar touched his gelled-up spikes. “Hey, I like my hair.”

“I do, too.” said Peter. “It’s just new.” He reached out towards Balthazar’s head. “You’ll have to teach me how to do that. I’ve gotten a little tired of my hair lately.”

Balthazar leaned slightly away from Peter’s hand. “You want to go back to a mullet?”

“A what?”

“Like in high school, remember?” He waved a hand. “You had that-”

“Oh, God, don’t bring that up.” Peter said, closing his eyes. “I’d forgotten all about that.” He turned to the camera. “Don’t listen to him, I never had a mullet, I would never do that.”

Balthazar chuckled. “We all did some silly things in high school.”

“Not you.” said Peter. “You were like, Mr. Musician, and you already had a sense of fashion and everything. It’s a wonder you didn’t have boys throwing themselves at you.”

“Yeah.” Balthazar said, looking down at his salad. “Well, that’s a compliment coming from Mr. All-Around-Great-Guy.”

Peter laughed. “Please. So, what, do they throw themselves at you now? Now that you’re in a band and everything?”

“Um...” Balthazar examined a vegetable on the end of his fork for a moment. “Well, I’m a rock star, Peter. I don’t talk about my personal life on camera.” He gestured to Ursula.

Ursula and Peter both laughed. “I’ll go, then.” Ursula said.

“No, no, no, you don’t have to.” Balthazar began, but Ursula was already moving on, circling around to where Hero and Claudio were sitting, surrounded by platefuls of cheesecake squares.

Claudio nodded as he chewed, looking like he was in heaven. “This one’s good, too.”

“I don’t know.” said Hero. “It was a bit too rich- oh, Ursula!” She waved as Ursula brought her camera over. 

 “How are you two doing?” Ursula asked, smiling. 

“Well, I am loving this.” Claudio set down his fork and plate. “Really, all of these are so delicious, any of it would be good for our wedding.”

Hero nodded. “Yeah, it’s really wonderful, getting to try so much food. It’d be cool to make desserts for a living, wouldn’t it?”

“You should do it.” Claudio took another bite of cheesecake. “You’d be really good at it.”

“Aww, thanks.” Hero placed her hand on Claudio’s shoulder and leaned in for a kiss.

Ursula quickly moved away before they could get too intimate. Some things weren’t meant to be on camera.

“No, Ursula, come back!” Hero said, pulling away from Claudio and reaching for her.

Ursula shook her head. “You guys have fun!” She wandered over to the next pair, Meg and Beatrice.

“Hey.” Meg said, waving to the camera. Beatrice also waved, cheeks stuffed with steak.

“Peter’s jealous of your steak.” said Ursula.

Beatrice swallowed her bite down, reaching for another one. “Tough. He should’ve volunteered for main dishes.”

“You know why he didn’t.” Meg said, smirking.

Beatrice glanced towards the camera. “I don’t know! I don’t know if you’re right about that or not!”

“Come on, you just have to listen to the man, he’s practically a groupie-”

“I don’t think it’s true on both ends.” Ursula said quietly, pressing the stop button and lowering the camera. “It has been years, and he didn’t show up when we were making centerpieces the other night.”

Meg raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know how you take that as evidence that anything’s changed. I think he just doesn’t want things to end up the same way again.”

“Ursula’s right.” Beatrice said. “It’s been more than five years since they’ve seen each other, there’s no way Balthazar still...” She finished her sentence with an expressive hand gesture.

Meg shrugged, cutting up a bit of steak. “It’s possible. I’m sure he didn’t like Peter throughout all of that time, but suddenly, Peter texts him out of the blue, turns out to be as hot as ever- don’t make that face, Bea, Peter’s attractive- and now he’s forced to spend time with him out of obligation to Hero. And maybe he even feels a little guilty for cutting Peter off, he wants to try and be best friends again like they were before.”

Ursula looked across the table where Peter and Balthazar were eating their salads, laughing together.

“Yeah, but that’s just not realistic.” Beatrice said, frowning. “Feelings don’t last that long, especially if you’re not actually dating each other. Who would be in love with someone they’re not dating for years?”

“Didn’t Hero and Claudio go through that in college?” Meg said. “Maybe not as long as Balthazar, but they were apparently in love with each other the whole time they were broken up.”

Beatrice scoffed. Ursula didn’t want to agree, but she sort of had to, in a way. Hero hadn’t really shown much sign of feelings for Claudio until they’d suddenly gotten back together.

“I didn’t say it was a good thing.” Meg raised her hands. “I just said it happens. I much prefer to make moves on people I’m attracted to as soon as possible.” She glanced over towards Ben and Freddie. “If I think they’re interested, of course. And then, if they’re not, move on! That’s really all there is to it!”

Beatrice nodded. “You’re really right. I think our media idealizes pining way too much. If someone’s said they’re not interested, they’re not interested, you know? It’s wrong to assume they actually secretly are or that they’ll magically be interested later on. People don’t change their minds like that.”

“I don’t know, I think it can happen.” Ursula said. “People change, don’t they? So maybe you’re not interested in someone when they’re a bad person, but they go off and grow some and some things happen to you that make you grow, and now the two of you are good for each other.”

Beatrice shook her head. “No. That’s just a cliche. The bad boy changing for the good girl never works in real life.”

“I’m not talking about that, I...” Ursula pushed back her hair, struggling to put it into words. “Just normal change. The things you want when you’re in high school aren’t the same as when you’re in your twenties. You go through a loss, or education, or a new responsibility, or a new job, and suddenly you’re not the same person anymore, so it makes sense you wouldn’t be interested in the same kind of people anymore either.”

“Then, what, are you just supposed to never get into a relationship?” Beatrice asked, stabbing at her steak. “Because there’s always the chance they’ll change? People don’t change that much or else no one would ever get married.”

Ursula shrugged. “I guess the point is to kind of change together.” She lifted up her camera again, pressing record. “I’m gonna go visit Freddie and Ben.”

“Say hi for us.” Meg said, wiggling her fingers. “To both of them.”

Beatrice snorted. “Just Freddie for me, please.”

Ursula nodded, smiling, and walked over to Ben and Freddie’s table.

"No, that is not how you pronounce it." Freddie was saying. "That's actually a ridiculous way to pronounce it, no one outside of England says it like that."

"Well, maybe they should start." Ben stuffed a tart in his mouth, chewing vigorously. "It's much more elegant that way."

“Meg and Beatrice say hi.” Ursula said. “Well, Meg says hi to both of you, Beatrice just says hi to Freddie.”

“Of course she does.” said Ben. He leaned back in his chair, looking over at Meg and Beatrice’s table. “Love you, Bea!”

“I hope you choke!” Beatrice shouted back, earning disapproving looks from the caterers.

Ursula cleared her throat. “Anyways, how are the appetizers looking?”

"Are you...are you filming? Right now?" Freddie asked, wide-eyed.

Ursula nodded. "Thought I'd get a few of the preparations on tape. For memories."

"Oh." Freddie awkwardly settled herself into a new position, resting her hand on one chin.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Ben.

"Well, I don't know, I have never been a fan of...." Her words were halting, her gaze directed anywhere but at the camera. "...being onscreen."

"Aww, come on, you’re a wedding planner.” Ben said. “Besides, it's not like Ursula's filming this for a movie or anything, all the intended viewers are in this room. Right, Ursula?"

Ursula nodded, but pressed the stop button anyways."I think that's enough footage for one day." She lowered the camera.

Freddie looked down at her plate. "Tell the others I say hi back."

"Who, Meg and Beatrice?" Ursula stifled a giggle. Was this primary school?

"Yeah, Beatrice and M-Meg."

"Tell Meg that she's lovely, and tell Beatrice that, were I as petty as she is, I would say I return the sentiments, but since I'm not-"

"You two really ought to stop fighting." Ursula blurted out. "Just for the wedding. Sorry, but...don't you think it's stressing Hero and Claudio out more than they need right now?"

Ben's mouth twisted bitterly. "I will if she does."

Ursula felt a hot flash of anger course through her, and wanted to argue the point, but it wasn't worth it. How could they not see what their constant bickering was doing to Hero?

"At least you're not a couple." Freddie said, and Ben nearly choked on a piece of tart. "No, I just meant- I've planned weddings where the happy couple acted like you two. At least Hero and Claudio get along."

Ursula looked over at Hero and Claudio, who were eating in silence. Did Freddie usually get couples who were so young, and who had dated for such a short time?

She quickly shoved the thought aside, feeling a little guilty for even having it. Hero needed support right now, not more reason to be stressed.

Ursula would support Hero, no matter what she decided.


	6. Chapter 5

While Claudio took a quick bathroom break, Hero pulled out her laptop and opened it up. They had been enjoying a James Bond movie marathon, a night off after all the stress of the month’s wedding planning, but the gorgeous scenery had reminded Hero that they still hadn't figured out where to go on their honeymoon.

There was still so much to do. Hero wished she were more like Ursula. Ursula was so organized, so driven whenever she had a goal to work towards. If Ursula was getting married, she'd probably have everything done by the first week, and she'd do the smart thing and set the date at least a year in advance so there wouldn't be all this last-minute rush to find a venue that was open. Hero loved the venue, and she was sure Freddie was doing a wonderful job with it, but it had been stressful trying to book it.

No, she was glad she was marrying Claudio. But whoever married Ursula, if Ursula ever wanted to get married, would be a lucky person indeed. 

The thought of marriage reminded her of what she'd been doing. She opened up a search bar and drummed her fingers on the keys as Claudio reentered the room.

"Claudio," she asked, "where do you want to go for our honeymoon?"

Claudio groaned as he burrowed underneath the comforter on the couch. "I thought we said no wedding talk."

"Sorry, but we need to do this." said Hero. "We've only got about five months, we need to start making reservations if we want to get cheap travel rates, and we need to ask for time off of work, and that's not even all we have to do. We need to order everyone's shoes and my veil-"

"Hero-"

"-and we need to ask people for readings-"

"Hero-"

"-and we need to sort out the insurance." She looked over at Claudio. "And then there's still so many things we can't do yet. We can't take nights off, we have too much to do, and there's not much time with you working extra hours all the time..."

Claudio's brows furrowed. "I didn't realize you had a problem with that." he said carefully.

"No, no, I don't, it's just..." Hero closed her laptop. "There's so much to do, and I need your help with most of it."

"You know why I'm working overtime-"

"I do, I do." Hero rubbed her forehead. "And I know you're tired after work, but we've got to plan the honeymoon if we want your overtime to be worth it, don't we?"

Claudio sighed. "You're right. But can we not do it tonight? I'm pretty worn out."

Hero bit back her response. Claudio had been going through a lot lately, she understood the need for a night off even if she was worried about getting everything done. "How is he?"

Claudio made a noncommittal noise. "They're saying he's in better condition now." he said. "But he's still got to get through surgery."

Hero took Claudio's hand, tracing soothing patterns on it. "Maybe this wasn't the right time to get married." she said. "All of this stress right now-"

Claudio shook his head. "No, no. I want him to be there. And since we knew we'd get married eventually, why not?"

Hero squeezed his hand. "I just don't want you to overwork yourself." she said, stroking back his hair. “Promise you'll tell me if it gets to be too much?"

"Promise." Claudio said. "Now can we get back to the movie?"

Hero nodded and reached for the remote.

A little while later, as James Bond beat up two suited men, Claudio cleared his throat. "Ursula-"

"Hmm?" Hero asked, eyes still on the screen.

"Do you ever think-" He broke off, shaking his head. "Never mind."

"What about Ursula?" Hero asked.

"Nothing." Claudio said. He intertwined his fingers with Hero's. "Let's just watch the movie."

 

* * *

 

As Ursula was walking up to Ben's place for another wedding party meeting, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out, smiling at the name on the display. She was very happy to have Balthazar back. They'd formed a bond in high school as the two quietest members of the group, and, even after years of separation, it had never really gone away.

"Hey." she said, holding her phone up to her ear. "What's going on?"

"I can't make it today." His voice was tired. "Tell them I'm sorry."

"Are you all right?" Ursula asked. "You're not sick, are you?"

There was a pause. "No."

Ursula switched her phone to her other hand to press the elevator button. "You sound a little sick."

"Ursula, I'm fine." said Balthazar. "Just stayed up late writing last night and I want a nap."

Ursula bit her lip as the elevator doors closed in front of her. She wanted to drop it, but he had been missing more than a few wedding party events and she was starting to worry. He’d never been the most communicative when he was upset. "You know you're still welcome with us." she said. "None of us resent you for doing your own thing for the past few years. We're glad to talk to you again. And you don't have to be a part of this if you don't want to, either. Hero will understand." 

"It's not that, I'm happy to help out." Balthazar said. "And I'm happy to see everyone again, too. It's nice."

"Is it Peter?" Ursula asked as the elevator doors slid open. She stepped out, looking down at her watch. "I know you liked him for years in high school, but you've both changed, there's no reason to avoid him, he's not even Pedro anymore-" Ursula collided with something solid and looked up.

"That's the problem, Ursula." Balthazar said. "It hasn't all changed.....Ursula?"

Ursula stared, wide-eyed, at Peter Donaldson. "Um." she said. "Gotta go. I will...call you back later so we can finish this conversation. Um. Ok." Amid Balthazar's protests, she pressed the button to hang up. "Um."

"Uh, hey." Peter said. "I- Ben told me you'd buzzed in, so I was just making sure you found us-" He gestured towards the elevator, and then rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I did." said Ursula, pulse pounding. "Excuse me." She tried to step around him.

"Wait, Ursula." Peter said, blocking her path. "Was that just- about me? Who..." 

Ursula pressed her lips together. "It's not- it's not my place to say." she said. "It's nothing bad, I promise."

Peter, ever the nice guy, nodded and stepped aside. "Right." he said. "But if they- ever want to talk about it-" He trailed off, pushing back his hair again.

Ursula nodded, privately thinking it would be a hot day in Hell before Balthazar would ever want to talk to Peter about it. "I'll let h- um, them know."

"Yeah." Peter said, following her to Ben's apartment.

The wedding party meeting was everything Ursula expected this late at night- a whole lot of talking, some arguing (courtesy of the Best Man and Maid of Honor), and not a lot of work getting done. Ursula began to wonder why it was a joint meeting in the first place, but then, after about half an hour, there was a knock at the door. When Ben went to open it, Freddie entered.

"Freddie!" Ben said as he opened the door, arms wide. "Freds! Freddie Fred Freds! Can I call you that?"

"No." said Freddie, brushing past him to enter the room. The others greeted her as she took a tentative seat on the couch, gripping her legal pad. "I've only got a few minutes til I have to get back to work so I'll have to be fast."

Meg pouted. "Too bad."

Freddie blinked, looking a bit distracted for a moment. “Uh- yeah. So. Um.” She opened up her legal pad, flipping through it noisily. “All right. So I understand that you all were planning on splitting the tasks, rather than just have the Best Man and Maid of Honor do it all-”

“Is that normal, by the way?” asked Ben.

“Uh-”

“Ignore him.” Beatrice said. “We’re happy to give you any information you need.”

Meg sighed. “Please don’t start this again.”

“I’m not starting anything.” Beatrice said. “I was literally trying to get the conversation onto the topic of the wedding. If anyone was starting anything, it was-”

“Guys.” Peter said. “Freddie only has a few minutes. Can we get along for a few minutes?”

Ben looked like he was about to say something, but thankfully, Freddie cleared her throat and he fell silent. “To answer your question, it is a little uncommon for the whole wedding party to help out with bigger things beyond decorations. However, it does make sense that you all might take on more tasks for this particular wedding, since we’ve had to compress the process into less than a year.” Before either Beatrice or Benedick could comment on this, Freddie raised her voice and continued. “So. What tasks have you already done or assigned to people? So I can know it’s getting taken care of.”

“I’m working on picking an officiant.” Ursula said, impressed by the way Freddie had managed to shut both of them down.

Freddie nodded, writing it down. “And you’re the photographer, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” Ursula said. As much as she loved Hero, she knew that she’d be more comfortable experiencing such a large, crowded event from behind a camera lense.

“You realize this is a big job, right?” Freddie asked. “You’re not just going to get to enjoy the wedding like you would otherwise. You’re going to have to focus on taking pictures for Hero.”

“I-”

“Oh, Ursula will be fine.” Meg said, leaning back in her seat. She smiled at Freddie. “Ursula would do anything for Hero.”

Ursula flushed, feeling embarrassed for reasons she couldn’t quite explain.

Peter glanced over at Meg. “I’ve got the music, as you already know.” he said. “Where is Balthazar, by the way? I thought we made him an honorary member of the wedding party.”

“He wasn't feeling well." Ursula said.

Ben frowned. "When did he tell you that? He said earlier he wanted to come."

"Um-" Ursula met Peter's eyes, and then realized that was the worst thing she could do at this moment. "This afternoon."

"Really?" Ben asked, but thankfully, he dropped it.

As the others reported their assignments to Freddie, Ursula stifled a groan. If Peter hadn't connected the dots, he was a lot less intelligent than she took him for. Her only hope was that maybe he thought she'd been talking to some other high school friend who'd been avoiding him, but who else would that be? Ursula closed her eyes. She'd have to ask Hero for advice, Hero would know what to do about this situation.

No- tell Balthazar everything that had happened, ask him for permission, and then ask Hero for advice. The last thing Ursula wanted was for more drama in this wedding planning process. Hero already had to deal with Benedick and Beatrice arguing worse than ever, she didn't need Peter and Balthazar to start anything, too.


	7. Chapter 6

Peter was a little quiet on the ride over to their next meeting with Balthazar's band. He kept twitching his fingers as if flicking imaginary flies away from his lap.

Hero snuck glances at him in the rear view mirror, wondering what he was thinking. Ursula had told her what had happened the other night, and Hero couldn't help but worry about Balthazar. She remembered how frustrated he'd eventually become with his long crush on Peter, and the last thing she wanted was for him to go through that again.

Planning a wedding was a lot more stressful than Hero had realized. Despite how much they still had to do, Hero found herself needing frequent breaks to stay calm. However, they were never as helpful as she wanted, as one way or another her thoughts always drifted to the wedding, or Claudio, or Beatrice and Benedick, or Balthazar. It was only for a few more months, and the reward at the end would hopefully be worth all of this mess, but sometimes she felt an awful, stubborn reluctance to do the wedding at all. She knew it was just the stress talking, though.

Hero cleared her throat, pushing away her thoughts. “So, Freddie. What’s the life of being a wedding planner like? Is it stressful?”

Freddie shifted in the back seat, looking away from the window. “Oh, it’s not all bad. I’m pretty good at time management.”

Claudio laughed. “I’ll say. Aren’t you working on more than one wedding right now?”

Freddie shrugged. “Well, yes. But I’m in the beginning stages of the other one, so there’s not much to do yet. I try not to accept multiple weddings with deadlines close together. Sorry, not deadlines, wedding days.”

Peter snorted, finally looking up from his lap. “Yeah, deadlines doesn’t have quite the romance to it.”

“Well, being a wedding planner isn’t as romantic as you’d think.” Freddie said. “It’s not at all like the movies. I don’t get to wear cute outfits and fall in love with the groom at every wedding.”

“But it’s nice, isn’t it? To see the couples happy when your job is done?” Hero asked.

Freddie shrugged. “Sure, if they seem like a good couple.”

“Hold on, so you’re saying you’ve never been attracted to a groom.” Peter said. 

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

Peter ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, but you must meet a lot of them. Surely at least one-”

“If you must know, the brides are more my type. Usually, anyways.”

Hero straightened up in her seat. Meg would be very happy to hear about this.

Freddie, however, mistook her reaction, and leaned forward. “I hope you don’t mind that someone ‘nontraditional’ is planning your wedding, I’ve had couples drop me before-”

Hero turned around and smiled at her. “No, no, of course not, not at all. I was sitting funny, that’s all.” She turned back to the front, trying to think of a way to phrase her question. “So, what about the brides then?”

“Um...”

“Hero, that sounds like you’re hitting on her.” Claudio said. Peter laughed, but there was something hard about Claudio’s tone.

“Oh, no, no, I didn’t mean that at all.” Hero said. “I’m sorry, Freddie. We can stop talking about this if you want.”

Freddie shrugged. “If you all really want to know, then it’s all right. And don’t worry, I don’t date anyone from the wedding party, bride or bridesmaid. There’s usually enough drama going on without me contributing to it.”

Hero’s smile melted off of her face. “Really? You don’t date the wedding party?”

“Yeah.” Freddie said. “It’s one of my rules. More ethical that way. And a lot less messy.” She shifted in her seat, looking back out the window. “Now, can we talk about something else?”

 

* * *

 

Ursula frowned. “She won’t date anyone from the wedding party? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, she just said it.” Hero said, examining the colorful aisle of lotions. She had called Ursula a few hours after dinner, rambling about some lotion she was supposed to apply every day for a few months to have clear skin at her wedding, and now they were here, in one of the only stores open this late, rooting through the toiletries section. “It’s a pity. They would’ve been such a lovely couple.”

Ursula chewed her lip. “But- Freddie is interested in her. And Meg likes her back, it’s obvious.”

“I know.” Hero pulled out a thick tube and examined the back of it, holding it up to decipher the tiny writing. “But we can’t really do anything about it, can we? I don’t know if I should tell Meg, honestly. I’d have to tell her that Freddie’s not straight, and then she’d just try to change Freddie’s mind about the rule thing.”

Ursula shook her head. “It shouldn’t be on you to worry about it. You’ve got enough to think about right now.” She crossed her arms. “It’s weird this is all happening right now. Meg and Freddie, Peter and Balthazar, Ben and Bea getting bad again-”

“It’s just the stress of the wedding.” Hero replaced the tube of lotion and pulled out the one beside it. “It’s getting to everyone, I think.” She frowned. “Peter might’ve figured out what you were talking about, though. We met with Balthazar yesterday to talk about the music for our reception, and the whole time they could barely look at each other. Peter was trying to be normal, but he kept calling Balthazar ‘bro’.”

Ursula winced. “I feel so bad about that. They were just getting to be friends again, too. I hope I didn’t ruin things between them.”

“It’s not your fault.” Hero put back the lotion and pulled out another one. She uncapped it, taking a sniff. “You were trying to help Balth, and you couldn’t have known Peter would be in the hall...”

“Yeah, but I still-” Ursula broke off, shaking her head. And here she’d been talking about stressing people out. “How are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Hero asked. “Here, smell this, tell me if it’s good.” She handed Ursula the lotion bottle.

Ursula obediently took a sniff. “Yeah, yeah, it smells great.” she said. “I like the stuff you usually use, though.”

“What?” Hero asked, taking the bottle back.

“You know, you always smell good.” Ursula’s cheeks reddened as she realized how that sounded. “I mean, I don’t mean it like- I don’t know, whatever lotion you use normally smells fine, you know? You should keep that scent.”

Hero blinked, mouth open, and Ursula’s cheeks flushed further.

“Sorry.” she said. “That was a weird compliment. Sorry.”

“No, no, no.” Hero waved her hands. “I just- wasn’t expecting it, you know? It’s a wonderful thing to say to someone. I was just confused because I don’t normally use lotion.”

“Oh.” said Ursula. “Oh, okay. Sorry-”

“No, I said it was a lovely thing to say.” said Hero. “I guess I should find one that smells like my soap, then.” She laughed.

Ursula joined in a bit giddily. “Right. Yeah, yeah, that would be good.”

Hero replaced the bottle of lotion, and for a moment was quiet, squatting to look at the lower half of the rack of lotions. Just when Ursula felt she ought to break the silence, Hero looked back up at her. “Anyways, you were saying?”

“What?”

“You asked me a question?”

“Oh, yeah.” said Ursula. “How are you doing? It’s not too stressful, is it?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine.” Hero said, straightening up. “Everything’s fine. There’s just a lot to do, I guess. Claudio and I are barely keeping track of it all, even with Freddie and you guys helping.”

“Well, if you need any more help-” Ursula began, placing a hand on Hero’s shoulder.

“No, no, of course not.” Hero laid her hand over Ursula’s wrist, rubbing the back of Ursula’s hand with one thumb. “You’ve done enough by agreeing to go lotion shopping with me.” She broke away, turning back to the rack. “I’m sorry to drag you out here, but- you’re the only one who’s been calm throughout all of this, you know? I needed some time with calm people and nice lotions right now.”

“Is everything all right?” Ursula asked.

“It’s....” Hero paused for a moment, staring at the lotions. “Claudio’s got a lot on his mind right now, with his dad, and work, and everything. And I think that’s why he’s been-” She stopped.

“What?” Ursula asked.

Hero looked down at the ground, crossing her arms. “Well, you know he’s always been a bit weird about me being pan, that’s a major reason why we broke up during uni. But he’s been better about it since we got back together, except...”

Ursula’s eyebrows drew together in concern. “What? What did he do?” The beginnings of anger heated up her chest, but she shoved the feeling down.

“Well, we had our dance coaching today.” Hero began, still not looking at Ursula. “And, um, we had a fight afterwards, because, well, he was struggling, so the woman teaching was demonstrating what to do with me. And he got a bit...jealous.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” Ursula burst out. She stopped, taking a breath. “Sorry, but, she was demonstrating the dance, and you would never-”

“I know, I know.” Hero turned away from the rack of lotions. “I think it’s just all the stress he’s been under. But I can’t exactly tell him that, because his boss isn’t his fault, and what’s happened to his dad is horrible, he has every right to be upset and overwhelmed right now-”

“Have you told Beatrice?” asked Ursula. Beatrice would be a better mouthpiece for the thoughts swirling around in Ursula’s mind right now, she was so eloquent with her anger and she actually had the guts to say it-

Hero shook her head. “I...don’t think I will. I know what she thinks about Claudio, and it’s not true. He would never say this sort of thing about Peter or Meg, for example, he’s just a jealous person. If I were straight, he’d be saying this about other guys-”

“But that’s still not good.” Ursula said.

Hero pressed a hand to her forehead. “I know. We’re working on it. We’ve been working on it since high school. I mean, we want to get married, so it must be worth working on, right?”

Ursula was quiet, watching Hero. Hero wanted someone calm right now, the fight was clearly still raw. She needed a distraction, Ursula could express her worries about Claudio later.

“Maybe we should go to a different store.” Ursula suggested. “If they don’t have what you’re looking for here.”

Hero met her eyes, finally, and smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”


	8. Chapter 7

The next morning, Hero woke up early and couldn’t fall back asleep, so she decided to do something non-wedding-related for once. Cooking always calmed her down, but she hadn’t really had time since her engagement. Today, though, she needed a break. Everything she still had to do- the honeymoon planning, the legal details, the decoration options Freddie was giving her- could wait.

Hero dug up an interesting-looking cupcake recipe from the Internet and quickly went to work. She didn’t have all the ingredients, but she knew enough to figure out good substitutions, so she decided to deplete their food stores now and go grocery shopping later once she was done.

Another item to add to her to-do list. Hero swallowed, throat dry.

But no, now was her break. Nevertheless, she entered “grocery shopping” into her to-do list on her phone, and tried not to think about how many other things she was supposed to do today. Then, she placed her phone down on the kitchen counter, set the oven to preheat, and dug the necessary supplies out of the pantry.

She sprayed down her cooking tin and began mixing the ingredients together, enjoying the smell of vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Gradually, the batter became a uniform light brown. Hero stuck a finger in and licked it- it tasted delicious.

Her phone buzzed over on the counter.

Hero ignored it, stirring her batter more vigorously, but a moment later, it buzzed again. Hero sighed, put her bowl down, wiped her hands on a towel, and picked it up. Two new texts from Freddie.

For a moment, Hero nearly unlocked it to read them, but it could wait. Her wedding wasn’t for another couple of months- sure, it wasn’t the longest amount of time, but a few hours would hardly make a difference. She set her phone back on the counter, taking a deep breath, and returned to the bowl of cupcake batter.

Her hands shook slightly as she ladled batter into the cupcake tin. What could Freddie want this early on a weekend? It was probably just a reminder that Hero still had to choose between the two floral arrangements that Freddie had picked out for her. And it wasn’t that big of a choice, both kinds of flowers would be gorgeous decorating the altar, but- it was the decoration for the altar of her wedding. Hero didn’t want to make the wrong decision.

Her phone vibrated again, the prolonged vibrations that meant someone was calling her, and Hero spilled cupcake batter all over the stove. She placed the bowl and spoon back on the counter, grabbed a towel, and began wiping up the mess. After a moment, she realized her phone was still vibrating. Hero wiped off her hands and picked it up.

Claudio’s name and her favorite picture of the two of them were flashing on the screen. Hero stared at it until it went away, and the “one missed call” notification popped up above Freddie’s two text messages.

Well, wonderful. Now Claudio would think she wasn’t talking to him. What if something had happened to his dad? She nearly unlocked her phone to add “Call Claudio” to her to-do list, but she didn’t think she could handle looking at the list again. Instead, Hero resolutely clicked her phone locked and set it back down on the counter.

When it buzzed again a minute later, Hero sighed, placed her towel down, and picked the phone back up. Claudio had left her a voicemail. She switched her it onto silent and returned to wiping up the mess on the stovetop, trying not to worry too much about why he was calling.

Once the batter was all cleaned up, Hero filled the rest of the cupcake tin as much as she could. It really was disappointing she’d spilled so much. Hero had been planning on inviting Ursula over to help finish the leftovers, but with this amount, she and Beatrice would probably finish it in a day. Oh, well. She could always try it again if she ever had time. Maybe after the wedding, when she and Claudio were married.

And that was a weird thought. Hero had been so wrapped up in planning the wedding that she hadn’t actually stopped to think about what it would be like to be married to Claudio. She’d always assumed there wasn’t much change, just a lot of paperwork, and yet “married” carried so many more connotations with it, of kids, of living together, of growing old together, of all other possibilities being closed off-

Hero felt her heart rate pick up slightly and stopped, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She was being ridiculous. Of course she wanted all of that with Claudio, that was why they were getting married, wasn’t it? It was just a fight, even married couples had fights. And they were young, but they loved each other, so there was no reason to wait, especially since Claudio’s dad might not have much longer.

She realized she’d been staring at her filled cupcake tins for a solid minute. She pushed the worries about Claudio and his dad out of her mind and pulled on oven mitts.

Hero slid the cupcakes in the oven and stood back, taking off the mitts. Her phone screen lit up again, reminding her of the four notifications on it, and Hero turned away. She supposed that she didn’t have much to do while the cupcakes baked, so she could respond but- she needed a break right now. Hero fiddled with her engagement ring, pressing the jewel into her finger. The hard physical sensation was a comfort right now, something to anchor her while her thoughts were swirling around her mind too quickly to process.

And then Hero rubbed the cold metal part of the ring, and remembered.

“Oh, no.” she said, placing a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no-”

“Hero?” Beatrice called from her bedroom. “Are you all right?”

Hero hurried into the living room, pulse pounding. How could she have forgotten, it was a vital part of the ceremony, and Freddie had reminded them about it the first week- she pulled out her laptop and quickly entered the password. “No, no, no, no, no-”

The laptop was taking a moment to connect to the Internet. Hero slammed it onto the table in frustration and sat back on the couch, covering her face.

“Hero?” Beatrice asked again, and then suddenly Beatrice’s arms were around her. “Hero, what’s wrong?”

Hero shook her head, trying to keep her breathing at a steady rate. “I’m not ready for this wedding.”

“Hero, you have two months.” said Beatrice, rubbing Hero’s back. “Freddie knows what she’s doing, and the rest of us will help out. You’ll be fine.”

Hero shook her head again. "I can't do this. There's too much to do and-"

"And we'll all pitch in and get it done." Beatrice said. "And what doesn't get done won't matter in fifty years when you're a gross old married couple. It'll work out, come on."

Hero took a few deep breaths, trying to absorb Beatrice's words. "Thank you. Sorry."

“It’s my job.” said Beatrice. “Part of the Maid of Honor slash Cousin Handbook.” She squeezed Hero, and pulled away. “What set you off?”

The panicky feeling was starting to subside, and embarrassment crept in. “No, I just realized-” She laughed shakily. “It’s the silliest thing, but I just realized we forgot to order the wedding rings. ”

“You’ve still got time. Don’t worry.”

“I know, but, if we want to make sure the rings fit exactly right, there’s a lot of resizing, and it’s our wedding rings, it’s got to be perfect, so Claudio and I have to spend a lot of time picking it out together, and-” Her voice became thick again, as much as she tried to control it. “-and Claudio and I had a fight yesterday-”

Beatrice stiffened at once. “What did he-”

“Beatrice, please.” Hero said. “Not right now.”

Beatrice fell silent. “Okay.” she said at last. “What can I do?”

Hero shook her head. “You and the others are already doing so much-”

“Not nearly enough, apparently.” Beatrice said.

Hero smiled. “Well, um, we have to do all the legal stuff, and order the rings, and the honeymoon should really be our job, but...” She wracked her brain, trying to think of any task she could get rid of. “Could you- could you order some stationery for thank you notes?”

“Yes, of course.” said Beatrice. “As long as you don’t mind it being sci fi themed.”

Hero giggled. “And, would it be possible for you to take care of the ceremony programs? You’d have to coordinate with Ben, there’s a few things I need from Claudio-”

After a moment, Beatrice sighed. “You know what? Yeah. I can put up with him for your wedding.”

“Good.” Hero said. She wiped her cheeks. “Do you want some cupcakes? I’ve got some in the oven.”

Beatrice laughed. “Are you serious? Is that what you’ve been doing all morning?”

“Of course.” Hero said, standing, and Beatrice, still chuckling, followed her into the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

Ursula was surprised when Beatrice called another wedding party meeting at Ben’s apartment. She didn’t think they had much to do as a group right now, but Beatrice was insistent. So when the night came, Ursula left Hero’s apartment with Beatrice- she’d been spending a lot of time over there since the night she’d taken Hero lotion shopping- and they took the bus over to Ben’s flat in the middle of the city.

As usual, his apartment was fairly untidy. Ursula braced herself for Beatrice to make a comment about it, but there was an odd silence between her and Benedick as he ushered them in.

“Make yourself at home.” he said, gesturing to the dingy living room. “As much as you can, anyways.”

Ursula sat down, but Beatrice remained standing, fidgeting and glancing around the room.

Ben snorted. “Got something to say?”

“No.” Beatrice said, sitting down beside Ursula and crossing her arms.

There was a pause. Ursula looked between them nervously.

Ben cleared his throat after a moment. “Do you want any-”

“It’s not unthinkable that I could actually get along with you, you know.” Beatrice snapped.

Ben raised his hands. “I never said-”

“Especially when it’s the best thing to do right now.” Beatrice said. “We shouldn’t be fighting, Hero’s dealing with enough right now-”

“I agree.” Ben said, holding her gaze.

There was a pause, while Ursula stared fixedly at her lap. Both of them seemed to have forgotten her presence.

Beatrice made a noise of disgust. “How could you, you don’t even know everything that’s going on-” She leaned forward, placing her elbows in her lap, tone wild. “How stressed she is-”

Ursula looked over at Beatrice, but before she could ask, Ben was on his feet, reaching out for Beatrice. He stopped a good distance from her. “Is Hero all right?”

Beatrice glanced up at him, and Ursula could see the worry in her face now, the tension in her forehead and mouth. “She’s- fine.” Beatrice said, breaking away from Benedick’s gaze. “She’s just stressed out.” She rubbed her face.

“Did something happen?” Ursula asked.

Beatrice nodded. “She and Claudio had a fight, I think. Why he couldn’t be more involved in the wedding preparations-” She glanced up at Benedick, as if expecting him to argue, but he was still watching her.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked. “Er, we?”

Beatrice nodded again. “That’s why I wanted to have this meeting, actually.” she said, holding his gaze. “So we can-”

There was a knock on the door, and they looked away from each other.

“I’ll get it.” muttered Ursula, pushing herself up off the couch. She opened the door to find both Meg and Peter standing on the other side.

“Hey, you’re all here!” Meg said, spreading her arms wide as she walked in. Ursula backed up to let her and Peter go by. “Sorry for the lateness, but at least we’re late together, right?”

“Yeah.” Peter said, smiling as they both sat down on the couch. “So what’s up? Why the meeting?”

“Well, we decided that we need to start working double time.” said Ben cheerfully, walking away from the couch. “We’ve only got a few months and there’s still a lot to do for the wedding. Isn’t that right, Beatrice?”

“Yes, actually.” Beatrice said, sounding equally upbeat. “Basically, the story is, Hero and Claudio are still a bit overwhelmed right now, so we’re probably going to have take on some more responsibilities in the next few weeks. I know, I know, sorry. For example, Ben and I are going to be working on ordering the programs for the ceremony, if he’s all right with that-”

Ben nodded. “Of course I am.”

Peter stared at them as though they were speaking a foreign language. Meg mouthed “what the fuck” to Ursula, and Ursula shrugged.

“And we also need to get started on planning the rehearsal dinner.” said Beatrice. “We need to find a nice restaurant and make reservations, help Hero and Claudio compile a guest list, find the vegetarians and allergies, and who’s going to give a toast.”

“Well, we know of at least one vegetarian.” Peter said, eyebrows still furrowed.

“You want to take care of that, then?” Beatrice asked. “I’ll give you the guest list as soon as I can get it from Hero. Ben, if you want to get Claudio’s guest list-”

“Yeah, sure.” Ben said. “Maybe we can sit down with both of them at one point and ask them about this and the programs?”

Beatrice met his eyes. “That’s not a bad idea.”

Meg cleared her throat. “I can take care of finding the restaurant.” she said. “I’ll try and find one close to our bachelorette party.”

Beatrice nodded, looking away from Ben. “All right, that’s good. Get Peter’s help, too, since he’ll know what people can and can’t eat. And, oh, you might wanna ask Freddie about it, I’m sure she knows some good places.”

Meg smirked. “Oh, I will.”

“Do you want me to go around and figure out who wants to give a toast, then?” Ursula said.

Beatrice nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. Hero’s moms might want to wait til the reception, and I know Benedick and I will be giving reception toasts, too. I don’t know about Claudio’s family.”

Meg lifted a hand. “Can other bridesmaids and groomsmen give toasts at the rehearsal dinner?”

“I don’t see why not.” Ben said.

Peter grinned. “Great.”

“I’ll put you two down, then.” said Ursula, smiling.

Beatrice nodded. “Also, Meg and Peter, Hero wanted me to ask if you guys were okay with doing readings for the ceremony. Nothing too complicated, just some short passages about love or whatever.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” Peter said.

Meg flipped her hair. “I suppose I could totally rock everyone’s worlds with the perfect reading.”

Peter snorted. “Just wait. Mine’ll be better. You’ll cry.”

“Well.” Ben said. “If there's nothing else, then, that’s it.” He clapped his hands together. “That was fast.”

“Yeah, I think it makes it faster when-” Peter began, and Meg elbowed him.

“When what?” Beatrice asked. She raised her eyebrows. “Peter?”

“When you two get along.” Meg said. “Sorry, but it is unusual.”

“It’s not that unusual.” Ben said, crossing his arms.

Beatrice nodded, mirroring him. “Yeah. We just decided it was for the good of the wedding, that’s all. Isn’t that what you all wanted?”

Peter and Meg exchanged glances, and Ursula snorted, quickly turning it into a cough when the others looked at her.

“Are we done, then?” she asked, standing. “I should probably go find out from Hero how to get in contact with her family.”

“Yeah, I think we are.” Peter stood as well. “Ben, you wanna come over? Balthazar and Claudio and I were gonna have a movie night.”

“Yeah, sure.” said Ben.

Meg stood as well, looping her arm through Beatrice’s. “I guess we’ll go, too, since we ladies aren’t allowed at your movie night.”

“Hey, it’s groomsmen only!” Peter said, raising his hands.

“And Balthazar!”

“Well, Ursula’s at everything, and she’s not a bridesmaid!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll have our own movie night.” said Beatrice. “Come on, Meg, Ursula.” She pulled Meg out to the door. Ursula waved to the boys and followed.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from the depths of finals! There are three poems in this chapter, none of which are written by me- they belong to Ella Wheeler Wilcox (”Love’s Coming”), Christopher Marlowe (”Who Ever Loved, That Loved Not At First Sight”), and Ella Wheeler Wilcox again (”Love’s Language”).

Hero was glad to relax and enjoy her bridal shower after the stress of the past few months. It was wonderful to see so many of her relatives and friends again. She was excited for that part of the wedding, at least- it would to be good to have everyone she loved in one place. **  
**

Thankfully, she and Claudio had made up. He’d apologized several times, and they’d both agreed to try and be considerate of each other while they were so overwhelmed. Still, things didn’t feel quite right between them. Hero had really thought things would be different after they got back together- Claudio worked on his jealousy while they were apart, she knew he had. It was probably just the stress of the past few months making him regress again.

She didn’t want to think too much about that right now, though. It had been a good afternoon, and she didn’t want to ruin it with all of the things she’d been so worried about.

Meg and Ursula stayed behind afterwards to help her and Beatrice clean up, as did Freddie. Hero had invited the wedding planner to the shower mostly out of politeness, but Freddie had surprised her by actually showing up and getting her a fairly thoughtful present. Hero hoped she would stay in touch with the rest of them even after the wedding.

“Where do you want your pile of gifts?” Ursula asked.

“Hmm?” Hero turned away from the door. “Oh, um, you can just leave them there. Beatrice and I will sort them out later.”

“Got a lot to sort out.” Ursula said with a smile.

Hero grinned at her. “Yeah. I’ve got great people in my life.”

“Hey, Hero!” Freddie called. “Do you have any more trash bags?”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Hero hurried over to help her. “They’re just in the top cabinet above the fridge.”

“Thanks.” Freddie said, disappearing into the kitchen. A moment later, she scurried back out into the living room, waving the box high. “Meg! I found them!”

“Thank you, Freddie.” Meg reached out a hand, and Freddie pulled out a bag for her. Meg opened it with a loud crackle, and Freddie leaned over, gathering up a pile of paper plates and utensils and dropping them in Meg’s bag.

Ursula and Hero traded glances. The corners of Ursula’s mouth twitched upwards.

Beatrice sat down on the couch, peeling off her shoes. “So, cousin of mine, how did you enjoy your shower?”

“Oh, it was great.” Hero said, slumping down beside her. “Really, thank you guys for planning this. I had a wonderful time.” She bent over, picking up some of the empty cups from beside her feet.

“No, no, don’t clean up.” Meg said. “We threw this for you, we should be the ones cleaning up. All of us.” She gave Beatrice and Ursula a look.

“All right, all right.” Beatrice said, standing. “Sorry, you and Freddie seemed like you were doing just fine together.”

“I’ll go get another bag.” said Ursula, jerking her thumb at the kitchen.

Meg smiled at Freddie. “We do make a good team, don’t we? Tell me, what is the worst mess you ever had to clean up?”

Freddie held Meg’s gaze, grinning. “Oh, there was this one wedding, back when I was an assistant, where they wanted the theme to be glamour.” She spread her fingers wide, emphasizing the word. “They had these little cups full of glitter at every table at the reception because they looked pretty, and then they invited kids to the wedding. By the end of the night, the kids all looked like space aliens, and the floor was just covered.”

Meg laughed loudly. “I wonder how the On Régale would feel if we decided to have little cups of glitter at the rehearsal dinner.

Freddie giggled. “I bet Walton would kill us.”

“Walton?” Beatrice asked as Ursula handed her a trash bag. The two girls began picking up the remainder of wrapping paper on the floor.

“He was this one guy- the host-” Freddie said, still giggling.

Meg turned to Beatrice. “Basically, Freddie took me to this fancy restaurant to check it out for the rehearsal dinner, and the host treated us like we were dirt under his feet the whole time.” She rolled her eyes, smiling at Freddie. “We should try and sneak some glitter in there anyways.”

“Have you found anywhere good, yet?” Ursula asked

Meg shook her head. “Not quite yet. We want someplace that’s classy, but, not, like, expensive, you know? Plus not a lot of places have room for everyone we want to come.”

“I’m going to take her to a few more places this week.” Freddie said, and immediately reddened. “Er, like, to try out the food and everything.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.” Hero said, but when Freddie and Meg weren’t looking, Hero raised her eyebrows at Ursula, and Ursula smirked.

Beatrice snorted, tying off her trash bag. “All right, we’ve got too much trash for this apartment, so who wants to help me take it downstairs?”

“I got it.” said Freddie, taking the garbage bag from Meg and sealing it.

“Oh, I’ll go and hold doors for you, then.” said Meg, and the three disappeared out of the apartment, huge garbage bags in arm.

Hero and Ursula broke into giggles as soon as the door shut

“Maybe she’s going to bend her wedding planner rules this once?” Ursula asked. “They are pretty friendly.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I can’t tell if Freddie’s aware of what’s going on or not.” said Hero. “Although I’m sure Meg’s going to make a move eventually. Maybe she’ll last until after the wedding, though, and then they won’t have to worry about any rules.”

“That would be nice.” Ursula said. She crossed over to her purse, digging through it. “By the way, actually, I was taking some pictures at the shower, and I wanted to show you...” Ursula pulled out her big black camera and sat down next to Hero.

Hero laughed, scooting closer to get a better view. “I didn’t even notice you were taking pictures.”

“Yeah, well, you were pretty busy.” Ursula said, turning it on and pressing a few buttons to scroll through the display. “I just wanted to document this process, you know? So you’ll have something to look back on once you’re all...married.”

Hero looked away. “No, that’s a good idea. It’s nice to have us all together like this all the time, isn’t it? Spending so much time with each other. And Balthazar’s back, too-” She broke off. Of course they would all see each other after the wedding. They might drift apart eventually, sure, but since they’d made it this far, it seemed unlikely.

Ursula smiled, placing a hand over Hero’s. “I understand. Being married is definitely going to change things, isn’t it? Not necessarily in a bad way, but-”

Hero met Ursula’s eyes. “No, I know what you mean.”

Ursula cleared her throat, withdrawing her hand from Hero’s. “Probably shouldn’t be doing that.”

“What?”

“Claudio would-” Ursula shook her head. “Bad joke. Anyways. The pictures.” She handed the camera over, fingers brushing Hero’s, and Hero looked down at the display.

The first one was a wonderful shot of her, mouth open with joy as she opened a gift from her aunt. “This is beautiful.” she said, and Ursula smiled. Hero flicked through a few more of her opening presents and then one of her standing, plate in hand, talking to her mothers.

Ursula crossed her arms. “I didn’t realize so many of them were of you.”

“No, that’s fine.” said Hero. “They’re amazing.” And they really were. They didn’t have the crappy lighting and awkward expressions of normal candid shots, but they didn’t feel staged, either. Hero stopped in the middle of a series of pictures of Meg and Beatrice setting up for the party. “Do you mind if I put some of these on Instagram?”

Ursula smiled. “No, not at all. Just give me credit.”

“Of course.” said Hero. “You know, you’re going to be a really successful photographer someday.”

Ursula looked away. “Well, thank you.”

“No, really.” Hero said. Ursula met her eyes.

The door banged open, and the two women jerked apart.

“We had a time getting those bags downstairs.” Meg said. “The elevator was too full for us all to get one the first two times it came up, and then when we finally did, the other lady in there was glaring at us the whole time.”

“Well, we didn’t smell great.” said Freddie. “We were carrying bags of garbage.” She sat down on the couch next to Ursula and groaned. “I have fifteen emails to return and a business dinner at six, but I don’t want to get up.”

“I feel the same way.” Beatrice flopped down next to Hero. “Too much cleaning and good food.”

“Well, you don’t have to go yet, do you?” Meg perched on the arm of couch, next to Freddie. “Maybe we could hang out some.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” said Hero. “And we always have more decorations to make!”

The others moaned.

 

* * *

 

Ursula met Meg at the steps to the library. Meg walked towards her immediately, taking her arm. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Yeah, no problem.” said Ursula.“I’d be happy to look for some good readings for the ceremony.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that. Unless you want to, of course. No, I mostly just wanted company.” Meg pulled open the library door and walking inside.

Ursula followed her in. The library was cramped and dim, with a thick haze of dust floating through the light emanating from the grimy windows. “Thought you and Peter were working together on this.”

“Yeah, we are, but...” Meg craned her neck, searching among the short stacks of books for Peter’s table. She turned back to Ursula and muttered, “He invited Balth.”

“What?” Ursula asked as she followed Meg further into the library. “Why?”

Meg shrugged, finally spotting Peter and Balthazar sitting amidst a tall pile of books. She waved and began walking over to them. “Apparently he ‘knows more about romance since he’s a songwriter’.” She raised her voice. “Hi, Peter, Balth!”

“Hey.” Peter said, sitting up. Balthazar waved as well.

“Find anything good?” Ursula asked, sitting down across from them.

Peter shrugged. “A few things. There’s always that one Bible verse. Love is patient, love is kind-”

Balthazar shook his head, smiling at Peter. “I told you, not nearly original enough.”

“And I told you, you should just write me something. You write all those romantic songs, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but that’s different.” Balthazar looked down at the table. “You can’t just get up there and read song lyrics, can you? And I don’t write songs about real people. It‘s too weird.”

Meg snorted, and quickly covered her mouth with one hand, but Peter and Balthazar still noticed. She smirked. “Sorry, but you never write songs about people you know in real life?”

Ursula kicked Meg under the table. Just because the subject of Balthazar’s high school ‘romantic songs’ had been an open secret didn’t mean Peter had to know.

“Uh...yes.” said Balthazar. Peter looked between him and Meg.

“What, do you write about fictional people then?” Meg said. “Do you have a song about Harry Potter?”

Peter’s eyebrows drew together. “Don’t make fun of him, Meg.”

“Okay.” She raised her eyebrows at the table. “So what books are we looking through?”

“Does Marlowe have any good passages we could use?” Ursula asked.

Meg rested her head in one hand. “That’ll make Ben happy, not Hero or Claudio.”

“Not a bad idea, though, the old literature quotes.” Balthazar said. “Hero would really appreciate one from a play, she loved doing theatre in high school.” He met Peter’s gaze again. “You could probably do that, couldn’t you?”

Peter blinked. “What?”

Balthazar shrugged. “Find a quote from a play or something about love.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea.” said Peter, twisting in his seat to search the shelves behind him. “I wonder if they have a section for that here...Ursula, you know what plays Hero likes, do you think you could come help me find one?”

“Um...yeah.” Ursula said, standing, and following Peter into the rows of bookshelves. She craned her neck, scanning for some kind of sign. “I guess we could go find the librarian?”

“Yeah.” said Peter, looking back over his shoulder. “Or we could just Google a few at home.” He turned around suddenly. “Ursula, the phone call-”

“Maybe find a book of sonnets?” Ursula suggested, trying to head off his question.

“Yeah, we could ask about that too.” He lowered his voice.“Look, the phone call was Balthazar, right? Like, there’s literally no one else it could be. I’m sorry, I know you can’t tell me, but-”

“I think you should ask him about that.” Ursula said, crossing her arms.

Peter sighed, pushing back his fringe. “I know, he’s just...hard to read. I can’t tell what he thinks about me anymore.”

“And what do you think about him?”

“I- I don’t know.” Peter said. “I mean, sometimes I think that in high school- if I had figured out myself and gotten over Beatrice a little earlier- we might’ve-” He broke off. “But that doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s too late for us to have gotten together in high school.”

“So maybe it doesn’t matter whether or not he was the one I was talking to?” Ursula suggested.

“Aw, Ursula, you’re right, but I hate it.” Peter said. He slung an arm around her. “Come on, let’s go find the librarian.”

When they returned, they found Meg and Balthazar poring over books of poetry. Meg had several stacked up by her elbow, a few with scraps of paper marking pages.

“You know, I am really feeling poetry today.” she said, flipping through a thick, glossy-looking book. “This is actually really fun. Listen to this. Love's Coming.” She began reading, with melodramatic facial expressions to accompany the text.

_“She had looked for his coming as warriors come,_  
_With the clash of arms and the bugle's call;_  
_But he came instead with a stealthy tread,  
_ _Which she did not hear at all._

_She had thought how his armor would blaze in the sun,_  
_As he rode like a prince to claim his bride:_  
_In the sweet dim light of the falling night  
_ _She found him at her side._

_She had dreamed how the gaze of his strange, bold eye_  
_Would wake her heart to a sudden glow:_  
_She found in his face the familiar grace  
_ _Of a friend she used to know.”_

“Well, but that doesn’t really apply to Hero and Claudio, does it?” Peter said, cutting her off. He sat down beside Balthazar, adjusting his shirt. “They weren’t really friends before they started dating.”

Ursula shrugged as she rejoined Meg. “It works for the second time around though. They were old friends by then.” She grabbed Meg’s book, flipping through it. “It’s a good poem, too. Isn’t that what romance is supposed to be? Falling in love with a friend?”

Peter busied himself in opening up the book of sonnets he’d found, and Meg fidgeted in her seat.

“Oh, here’s one.” said Balthazar. “It’s from the Marlowe play  _Hero and Leander_.”

Peter barked out a laugh. “That’s perfect, what is it?”

Balthazar met his eyes and began reading, stumbling over the words slightly.

“ _It lies not in our power to love or hate,_  
 _For will in us is overruled by fate._  
 _When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,_  
 _We wish that one should love, the other win;_  
 _And one especially do we affect_  
 _Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:_  
 _The reason no man knows; let it suffice_  
 _What we behold is censured by our eyes._  
 _Where both deliberate, the love is slight:_  
 _Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?_ ”

“Yeah, but that’s definitely not Hero and Claudio.” Meg said. She looked down at the table, cheeks reddening slightly. “It wasn’t love at first sight for them.”

Balthazar shrugged. “It’s a good poem.”

“Everything okay, Meg?” Ursula asked. “You’re awfully twitchy today.”

Meg smiled at her. “I am fine, perfectly fine. This library’s just so dusty, you know? What have you got for us?”

Ursula looked down at the poem she’d found and grinned. Oh, this one was perfect. “Yeah, actually.” She cleared her throat.

“ _How does Love speak?_  
 _In the faint flush upon the telltale cheek,_  
 _And in the pallor that succeeds it; by_  
 _The quivering lid of an averted eye--_  
 _The smile that proves the parent to a sigh_  
 _Thus doth Love speak._

_How does Love speak?_   
_By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freak_   
_Of bounding pulses that stand still and ache,_   
_While new emotions, like strange barges, make_   
_Along vein-channels their disturbing course;_   
_Still as the dawn, and with the dawn's swift force--_   
_Thus doth Love speak._

_How does Love speak?_  
 _In the avoidance of that which we seek--_  
 _The sudden silence and reserve when near--_  
 _The eye that glistens with an unshed tear--_  
 _The joy that seems the counterpart of fear,_  
 _As the alarmed heart leaps in the breast,_  
 _And knows, and names, and greets its godlike guest--_  
 _Thus doth Love speak._ ”

There were two more stanzas, but from everyone’s expressions, Ursula figured that was enough. No one seemed to want to meet anyone else’s eyes.

“So, it might be good for them.” Ursula said once the loaded silence became too uncomfortable. “One of those ‘definition of love’ things.”

“Yeah, no, I might use that one.” said Meg. “Can I- can I have the book back?”

Ursula handed it over, and Meg studied the poem, expression unreadable.

Peter was still staring at his book of sonnets, but he hadn’t flipped a page in several minutes, and Balthazar was tapping his fingers on the table restlessly.

“How does love speak?” Balthazar echoed quietly. “No, that’s a....that’s a good one. Good poem.”

Peter nodded without looking up from his book.


End file.
